I wrote a small cgi/perl script that takes a screenshot of my current desktop. Basically, it calls "system("sudo include -window root ../htdocs/captured.jpeg"); I am able to run it from the command prompt (yes, as the user "nobody") and it works fine. However, when I place it in my cgi-bin and run it from firefox it doesn't work. My httpd.conf file _is_ setup for the user/group nobody/nobody and I've setup sudoers accordingly (for example, not asking for a password so the script can function correctly). Like I said, it works if I su to nobody from the console and run it, but calling it from the browser does nothing! Anyone have any experience with doing anything like this? Edit: and the script _is_ being executed because I'm printing a timestamp to the window and it shows up fine.

Because of that last part, I'd take a guess that the relative path "../htdocs/captured.jpeg" isn't being used correctly since the current working directory that the CGI script is called with from the HTTP daemon isn't what you're expecting.

I've changed it to /var/www/htdocs/captured.jpeg but it still doesn't work when executed through the browser. I took a look at the error log and it says import: unable to open X server. I'm trying to find something on google now, but I'm not totally sure what to look for.

Quote: Original post by ontheheap
I've changed it to /var/www/htdocs/captured.jpeg but it still doesn't work when executed through the browser. I took a look at the error log and it says import: unable to open X server. I'm trying to find something on google now, but I'm not totally sure what to look for.

Oh, yes, I forgot all about that somehow.

You have to give it a display from which to capture the root window. The "default" display (kind-of) for single user machines is ":0.0". You can specify the display to any "normal" X application with some arguments like "-display :0.0" or by setting the environment variable DISPLAY before executing the application. A more sophisticated solution would be needed to have it track one user's display or something more reliable.